August 31, 2007

Landis Verdict: 'By End of September'

"A decision in the Floyd Landis doping case will almost certainly come by the end of September, according to a memo written by the chairman of the three-man arbitration panel and sent to parties in the case.

"In the memo, obtained by ESPN.com Thursday, panel chairman Patrice Brunet, a Montreal lawyer, told lawyers for both sides that the arbitrators plan to hold the last of their meetings with their own scientific expert, Dr. Francesco Botre, on Sept. 12. Botre, the director of the World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited lab in Rome, Italy, attended the entire hearing in order to collect information and present his opinions privately to the panel."

Rant and his commenters try to read the tea leaves about what this news means. For me, looking at the guilty-until-proven-innocent nature of the proceedings -- against Landis and everyone else -- it's hard to imagine the anti-doping system will deliver a verdict that will raise doubts about its own efficacy. In other words, Floyd, his reputation and career are toast. However, surprises are always welcome.

Speaking of the system and its penchant for rough-and-ready justiice, Rant Your Head Off also has an iinteresting item on Michael Rasmussen's case. Remember, Rasmussen was thrown out of the Tour and fired from his team because of allegations he lied about his whereabouts in June to avoid random doping tests. But now a Danish paper is reporting there's evidence that Rasmussen did indeed inform cycling officials of his whereabouts on one of the disputed dates.